The Revolution Consumed: The Revolts of 1968, Consumerism and Advertising in Western Europe

This article examines the relationship between consumerism and the revolts of 1968 in France, Italy and West Germany. It reviews the ways the political and cultural revolts of the long 1960s have been understood in their relation to consumerism, examines what consumption meant in the late 1960s to protesters and analyses the idea of ‘recuperation’. The article uses the case study of advertising to demonstrate that protesters both embraced an anti-consumeris position and adopted the tools of advertising for the purpose of revolt. At times the anti-consumerist drive conflicted with the appropriation of advertising. Advertisers had adopted themes of revolution before ‘1968’ and the idea of ‘recuperation’ was important primarily for the role it played in the imagination of radical protest.